Vergne Leads DS Techeetah 1-2 In Jakarta E-Prix Qualifying
Grid Talk Reporter 06:14 04/06/2022
Jean-Éric Vergne set a new Formula E pole record by defeating his DS Techeetah team-mate António Félix da Costa in the final of the duels at the inaugural Jakarta E-Prix.
For the first time since the new qualifying format was introduced at the beginning of the 2022 season, two cars from the same team locked out the final. Vergne and da Costa had looked evenly matched throughout qualifying but it was Vergne who quickly took an advantage after da Costa had a slide at Turn 3, and the eventual margin proved to be eight tenths in Vergne’s favour. It marks Vergne’s 15th pole in the all-electric championship, moving him above Sébastien Buemi in the all-time pole standings. Second place for da Costa is still his best qualifying result of the season and his first front row start. Edoardo Mortara took both poles in Berlin but had to settle for fourth place on the grid after losing to da Costa in the semi-finals and going slower than Jaguar’s Mitch Evans who lost to Vergne but will start third on the grid.
Avalanche Andretti’s Jake Dennis was the fastest of the quarter final losers and will start from fifth place ahead of Nissan e.dams’ Buemi who earned his best grid spot of the year so far. Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein would have started from sixth place but he has a five-place grid penalty after his team broke the seal on his PU to check the cause of his Monaco E-Prix retirement. He’ll start 11th. Formula E championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne was the slowest of the quarter final losers for the fifth time in seven rounds and will line up in seventh place after Wehrlein’s penalty is applied. Wehrlein’s team-mate André Lotterer failed to make it into the duels for the first time this year and will start eighth ahead of reigning champion Nyck de Vries and the second Venturi of Lucas di Grassi.
Wehrlein will start 11th ahead of the leading Mahindra of Oliver Rowland and the highest-placed Envision-Audi of Nick Cassidy. Maximilian Günther took 15th in the second Nissan e.dams, behind Jaguar’s Sam Bird but ahead of NIO 333’s Oliver Turvey and Dragon Penske’s Sérgio Sette Camara. Dan Ticktum was 18th in the second NIO 333, ahead of Oliver Askew (Andretti), Alexander Sims (Mahindra), Robin Frijns (Envision) and former Alfa Romeo F1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi whose miserable rookie Formula E season continues.
